Coastal Salmon Fishery Remains Strong
By Mark Yuasa
Coastal salmon fishery remains strong, but so good that Neah Bay anglers had to release chinook beginning Sunday, August 2
The ocean salmon fishery remains very good, and the chinook catch has increased so much at Neah Bay that state Fish and Wildlife has issued an emergency regulation change.
Beginning Sunday (Aug. 2) anglers at Neah Bay on the northern coast will have to release all chinook in Marine Catch Areas 4 and 4B, but fishing will remain open for hatchery coho and pinks.
“They did quite well on chinook at Neah Bay and are getting close to their catch quota,” said Wendy Beeghly, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist. “This past week they averaged 0.8 on chinoo and 0.2 on coho so not a lot of coho around. There are still quite a few pinks to catch, but their numbers are starting to drop off just a bit.”
Just down the coast in La Push, the catch is predominantly made up of chinook, and close to a fish per rod average, and 0.2 per rod on coho. La Push also has a one chinook daily catch limit.
“In Westport, anglers averaged 0.5 chinook per person, and 0.9 on coho so that is pretty darn good fishing,” Beeghly said. “We had high effort this past week for private boats at Westport.”
“It looks like the Ilwaco charter boats are still limiting for salmon, and they’re finding some chinook,” Beeghly said. “The private boats at Ilwaco also did well and came close to two-fish daily limits with a 1 ½ fish per person average and most were coho.”
The albacore tuna are starting to move in closer making them more accessible to boats out of Ilwaco, Westport and even La Push.
“They are doing really well on tuna, and I heard at Ilwaco they were fishing as close as 25 miles offshore,” Beeghly said. “Tuna also showed up at Westport although they were heading a little out, but we are starting to see a few more charter trips, which indicates fishing is good.”
In La Push, Beeghly said a state Fish and Wildlife sampler checked one private boat with 100 tuna, and they only ventured about 30 miles offshore.
The Buoy 10 are at the Lower Columbia River mouth also opens this Saturday (Aug. 1) for salmon fishing, and state Fish and Wildlife biologists indicate that it is likely to get off to a good early start for kings and hatchery coho.
Originally published here.